One of the most prominent vectors for forcing people against their will to comply with the woke norms of same-sex marriage has been viaweddingcakes, where bakers have been forced to use their “personal creative abilities to promote and endorse a same-sex ceremony” lest they face ruination at the hands of post-culture wars shooting-the-wounded-in-the-groin Left.

There are rare cases where free speech has won out, but such victories have only been tangential… until now, of all places, in California:

“A California bakery owner can continue to refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples because it violates her Christian beliefs, a judge ruled.

“The decision came after a lawyer for Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield argued that owner Cathy Miller’s right to free speech and free expression of religion trumps the argument that she violated a state anti-discrimination law.

“Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe agreed but said Monday his ruling was tied closely to the fact that Miller was being asked to make a cake for an event and that the act of creating it was protected artistic expression.

“Lampe cautioned that freedom of religion does not give businesses a right to refuse service to groups protected by the Unruh Civil Rights Act in other circumstances”.

“The State’s purpose to ensure an accessible public marketplace free from discrimination is a laudable and necessary public goal. No vendor may refuse to sell their public goods, or services (not fundamentally founded upon speech) based upon their perception of the gender identification of their customer, even upon religious grounds. A retail tire shop may not refuse to sell a tire because the owner does not want to sell tires to same sex couples. There is nothing sacred or expressive about a tire.

“No artist, having placed their work for public sale, may refuse to sell for an unlawful discriminatory purpose. No baker may place their wares in a public display case, open their shop, and then refuse to sell because of race, religion, gender, or gender identification.

“The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked. The State is not petitioning the court to order defendants to sell a cake. The State asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of a marital union her religion forbids. For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.”

A trope of the Left is back before the eeevil KKKapitalists of Western Civilization came around, all the peace-loving persons of color were “noble savages” living twig-worshipping idyllic communal lives free from silly things like gender or any concept of self. The Left finally get to see the fruition of getting to the goal via socialism; the result is that the proverbial savage is rather… ignoble.

“Consciousness is a fundamental feature of physical matter; every single particle in existence has an ‘unimaginably simple’ form of consciousness, says Goff. These particles then come together to form more complex forms of consciousness, such as humans’ subjective experiences. This isn’t meant to imply that particles have a coherent worldview or actively think, merely that there’s some inherent subjective experience of consciousness in even the tiniest particle.

…

“This sounds like easily-dismissible bunkum, but as traditional attempts to explain consciousness continue to fail, the ‘panpsychist’ view is increasingly being taken seriously by credible philosophers, neuroscientists, and physicists, including figures such as neuroscientist Christof Koch and physicist Roger Penrose.”

This is neither neuroscience nor physics. This is a modern day version of animism, with explanations more akin to something out of a Hawkwind song!

This animism has already been seen by all the glaciers, rivers, and mountains being attributed feelings and even human rights. Such magical thinking is simply ascribing human traits on everything else in order to not deny human traits because they equally can not accept that all things are just matter and energy.

“Three British professors recently claimed that statistical analyses have been weaponized to ‘serve white racial interests’ within academia and beyond.

“…

“To address the racism numbers reinforce, the professors advocate for the adoption of ‘QuantCrit’—a portmanteau for ‘quantitative analysis’ and ‘critical race theory.’ Quantcrit, they say, has five key tenets, including that ‘numbers are not neutral.’

“Numbers are not neutral because ‘quantitative data is often gathered and analyzed in ways that reflect the interests, assumptions, and perceptions of White elites,’ they contend, adding that even so-called objective analysis fails to take the pervasiveness of racism into account.

“Other key tenets of QuantCrit theory include realizing that math tends to legitimate existing racial inequalities, acknowledging that numerical analyses disadvantage minorities, and understanding how numbers play to the benefit of white interests.”

Does this mean that reality is racist and oppressive because the numbers are doubleplusungood?

Of course not!

They’re social constructs too!

“‘Numbers are social constructs and likely to embody the dominant (racist) assumptions that shape contemporary society,’ they write. As a consequence, they assert that ‘in many cases, numbers speak for White racial interests.'”

“[T]he sponsor of that state’s assisted suicide legalization bill has amended the proposal to include the terminally ill ‘intellectually disabled,’ who by definition, will often not be able to fully comprehend the nature of what is being discussed.”

“‘Intellectual disability’ means a disability, that originated before the age of 18, characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills.’

“…

“(b) If the patient has a documented intellectual disability, the attending physical shall refer the patient to a licensed clinical social worker who shall ensure that the patient fully understands the information provided pursuant to § 2504B(3).

“No medication to end a patient’s life in a humane and dignified manner may be prescribed unless the licensed clinical social worker has confirmed in writing to the attending physician that the patient understands the information provided pursuant to § 2504B(3).”

In other words, someone who can’t sign a contract, control where they live, can’t vote, nor legally make their own medical decisions can be executed if a social workers merely states in writing that the patient understands what is going on.

In contrast to Delaware, Utah is poised to make all assisted suicide manslaughter.

“(a) ‘Aids’ means the act of providing the physical means. (b) ‘Aids’ does not include the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment…

“[(1)] (2) Criminal homicide constitutes manslaughter if the actor… (b) intentionally, and with knowledge that another individual intends to commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide, aids the other individual to commit suicide.”

While the Utah bill will bring out the usual suspects whining about “death with dignity”, it has the benefit of precluding the mentally handicapped from being tricked and executed by a biased social worker and complicit doctor.

This basically sounds like the backstory to “Armitage III“, where “Feminists have taken over Earth and encourage men to emigrate to a terraformed Mars, where the lack of women is compensated by gynoids (i.e. fembots)… including ‘Type III’ androids that resemble non-Feminist female humans (which obviously ends up angering the Earth’s Feminist overlords).”

Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

The focus this time: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”

First, a little bit of mood music:

Carrying on…

Pro-tip: If you are selling herbal remedies, NEVER EVER make anything even coming close to a medical claim, or else the FDA will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Even if the folk remedy has been around for centuries…

“Another of Girod’s products, called TO-MOR-GONE, contains bloodroot and was claimed to be “very good at removing tumors.” This old folk remedy has been practiced for centuries, mostly to remove dead skin layers from around skin tumors and wounds. But bloodroot removes this dead skin due to its caustic properties. The FDA decided this was a danger to the public and demanded to inspect his manufacturing process — in other words, his home.

“Girod, stating that his products weren’t subject to FDA oversight because they were herbal remedies, barred their entry. As part of the Old Order Amish community, his religious beliefs mandate that he avoid the modern world as much as possible, including modern pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, the FDA decided that since Girod made vague medical claims, his products were drugs and subject to the full weight of the federal bureaucracy.”

John William Waterhouse is considered a master of the Pre-Raphaelite school, a reformist art style the thrived during the Victorian era. Waterhouse’s ” Hylas and the Nymphs” has not been found to be #Problematic.

” The work usually hangs in a room titled In Pursuit of Beauty, which contains late 19th century paintings showing lots of female flesh.

“Gannaway [, the gallery’s curator of contemporary art,] said the title was a bad one, as it was male artists pursuing women’s bodies, and paintings that presented the female body as a passive decorative art form or a femme fatale.

“‘For me personally, there is a sense of embarrassment that we haven’t dealt with it sooner. Our attention has been elsewhere … we’ve collectively forgotten to look at this space and think about it properly. We want to do something about it now because we have forgotten about it for so long.’

“Gannaway said the debates around Time’s Up and #MeToo had fed into the decision.”

It was being re placed by a more politically correct contemporary artist…

The claim is that this isn’t censorship, with the promise that it could return “recontexualised”…

However, in the now vacant space “Visitors were invited to write their views about the decision on sticky notes and post them in the vacant space.” The Vox Populi was strong against the removal:

“But after a backlash, the city council, which runs the gallery, announced that the painting would return to the wall.

“The gallery’s interim director Amanda Wallace said: “We were hoping the experiment would stimulate discussion, and it’s fair to say we’ve had that in spades – and not just from local people but from art-lovers around the world.

“‘Throughout the painting’s seven day absence, it’s been clear that many people feel very strongly about the issues raised, and we now plan to harness this strength of feeling for some further debate on these wider issues.’

“The gallery is now planning a series of public events ‘to encourage further debate’.”